One more before I go…

Yesterday Cordelia and I hit the Christmas Tree Shops (or “chops” as Cordelia calls it) and found a large selection of nice looking frames for super cheap- the big ones were $6.99 and the small ones were $3.99… Don’t you just love a bargain? I grabbed all that they had in stock and last night I finally framed some of my indigo Cordelias and hung them in my bedroom. My walls have been empty in my room since we moved in 6 years ago and I am excited that I finally have something up. We have a really large armoire that I am not in love with and that we did not measure properly for when we bought it and I have always had a difficult time finding a place to put it in the bedroom. I think that the drawings balance the scale of the armoire now that they are hanging on either side.

I just wanted to share a few pics before I go…

#77

Today’s drawing is a quick sketch of Cordelia in pen from my sketchbook. I will be out-of-town for the next few days and I am going to a place where I will not have access to my computer. I will draw everyday, though and will share my sketches when I return.

Roman… sleeping

I finally drew my husband from life and it looks like him! He wasn’t actually sleeping, but I told him to lay on the sofa and close his eyes- and since Cordelia did not sleep very well last night, he was very eager to rest his eyes even if it was for only about five minutes. I sketched him with pen, and it went very fast- however, I had a few ink blobs that I was not very happy with (they always seem to happen when I work quickly).

Steve’s Mural

Still have a long way to go… but here it is so far…

Michael

When I told my Aunt Jane about my 1000 portraits projects she promptly offered me some pics of her son Michael to draw. I received a package last week, and true to her word, she had sent an entire stack of photos of Michael. This morning I came across the package on my dining room table and decided that today would be a good day to start on all the pictures people had sent me that I have not gotten a chance to draw yet.
So, here is the first in a series of Michael…
with graphite

Sketchbook pages

We had a busy day today. We took Cordelia to the Boston Children’s Museum to see the Curious George exhibit. She really enjoyed herself, but Roman and I wished that she had taken her nap before we went… she was a little difficult to pry away from her favorite exhibits. I sketched Cordelia while she played tonight. She was constantly moving and I drew her as fast as I could. I also added a little Curious George face to help me record this day.

Back to Pen…and drawing fast!

Sometimes I really cannot focus… I often get swept away with all my little projects. Sometimes I draw, other times I knit, but most often I am devouring design magazines and blogs and thinking about all the changes I want to make to my house. Right now I am redecorating my bedroom. We bought a new headboard, some wall sconces and last night my husband and I moved all the furniture around. I am trying to figure out how I am going to incorporate all the Indigo Cordelias that I have drawn and my mind is buzzing… which makes it so hard to sit down and draw!
So, today I drew the fastest sketch of Cordelia- it took less than five minutes and it was drawn in my sketchbook with pen. I am hoping that I can finish my bedroom soon and post a picture- maybe then I can get back to focusing on my portraits!

Front and back

Today’s drawing is drawn on tracing paper and I utilized a new technique that I recently learned about at work. I drew this portrait of Cordelia from a photograph and after I got the darks as dark as I could possibly make them with the graphite, I turned over the drawing a drew on the back. Because tracing paper is transparent, it makes my dark lines even darker. It works well to define lines like the eyelashes, etc.

This is the drawing from the back.
As you can see, I only drew on the areas that I wanted to be really dark.
I may experiment more with this technique later.

#71

I know this is not the best photo of my drawing of the day… but it was difficult to photograph this drawing because it is a very light outline of Cordelia. I wanted her hands to be the primary focus and I did not want to draw anything else, but I found that once I sketched in the hands, they needed something to connect them, so I drew in the rest of her body. I only used up half of the paper and I liked how the negative space on the other side of the drawing supports the image of Cordelia. I am going to take a photograph of Cordelia in this position and I may add more to this image later (I hope she hasn’t moved since I started writing this!) because I feel that it needs to be finished with some shading, but I am unsure which medium I would like to use.

New ideas

It had been unseasonably warm here in the Boston area, so I had put away all my spring/Easter decorations and was putting out my summer home accessories of candles and seashells when I showed Cordelia that she could listen to the ocean if she placed a little conch shell next to her ear. She has been intrigued by those little shells ever since and has been carrying them around with her for days. She has also been trying to get some starfish to “talk” like the conch shell and after I had sketched her during her nap today I noticed the starfish sitting on the coffee table where she had left it. I thought it had an interesting shape and wanted to try adding other elements to my sketches of Cordelia, so I traced it several times to create a sort of backdrop for the drawing.